*NO* Adventures of Batman & Robin 'Send in the Clowns'

[Palpable]

CONTACT INFORMATION

Remixer Name: XTREEMMAK

Real Name: Jamaal Ephriam

Email:

Website: http://keyjaycompound.com

My User ID: 11647

SUBMISSION INFORMATION

Name of Game: The Adventures of Batman and Robin (Sega Genesis Version)

Name of Arrangement: Send in the Clowns

Name of individual song(s) arranged:

Harley Quinn Boss Theme

Joker Boss Theme

System: Sega Genesis

Composers: Jesper Kyd

Vintage: 1994, 1995

Developer: Clockwork Tortoise

Source:

Harley Quinn Boss Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2LGasEffcA

Joker Boss Theme: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8opFZdIZ-vI

Commentary:

Anything Else: ENJOY!

Edited December 22, 2013 by Liontamer
closed decision

[DragonAvenger]

Nice pick of sources. Your arrangement does a good job of keeping the feel of the original and adding a little bit more of a menacing feel to it. The arrangement overall is a bit repetitive; there's a lot of that Harley Quinn riff throughout the mix. I think adding a bit more variation onto that would be a good idea to keep things a bit more interesting due to how much it is used. The change-ups are pretty good overall, although I felt the second voice clip transition was a bit weak. The transition into the ending was not working for me at all. There was no build up or down to it, and it ended up just...happening.

The production has a lot of good merits to it. The sounds are integrated well together, and the balance is pretty good. I wasn't entirely sold on the strength of the synths themselves, but I think they are alright overall. I can see that definitely being a bigger issue with other judges, so I am curious what they think. The drums are way repetitive which, along with the background elements being somewhat repetitive makes me wish there was a bit more going on. Nice use of panning! That section is definitely a highlight.

I think this is pretty close in the end. I'm thinking I am just shy of a YES here mostly due to the repetition and cleaning up the ending. Just a bit of spit polish.

NO (resubmit)

[OceansAndrew]

I think the song develops pretty nicely for the first part, but I was hoping for an epic and massive build before the song really blew open. There was a decent mini-build, but I want mooore. The sound scape fit really well, and the panning was solid. Thematically this felt like a pretty solid mid-late 90's technometal track, which is pretty cool and authentic for the game's soundtrack. I definitely approve the use of a second source, because all of the Harley Quinn all of the time would be a bit excessive. Some good arrangement ideas throughout.

Ending wasn't solid, but otherwise it had some pretty good flair. I think a little less repetition in the beat for the first half would improve the track overall, but it skims the OCR arrangement bar for me.

Yes

[Vig]

Bonus points for the title.

The groove is pretty cool, but this song is quite repetitive sonically. The drums keep the song moving, and they rarely change. The melodic elements are also pretty reetitive. I think there's some good stuff in here, but overall I'd try to make it build more dynamically.

NO

[Nutritious]

Production is clear and well balanced. Nice work overall in this regard. I don't normally like sampled voice clips in mixes, but it was well integrated here and brought some humor into the mix.

Arrangement-wise, this is sitting pretty close to cover territory: similar style, same key, same melodic/rhythmic patterns, similar general progression, even similar sounding (if more effected) synths. This, coupled with the repetition issues mentioned in above votes is really hampering this mix.

So yeah, production is clicking well, but this needs a healthy dose of personalization and less repetition before I'm comfortable passing it. Good luck to you.

NO resubmit, please

Edited November 19, 2013 by Nutritious

[Palpable]

Great opening - well-produced beat with little details here and there. The snare was strangely panned across the sides but not too much of a distraction. When the Harley riff came in, it sounded like it became the big focus, and I was disappointed that there wasn't more development in the track until 1:32.

That chorus section at 1:32 follows the original pretty closely, more akin to a sound upgrade than a rearrangement. Following that is a low-key but interesting section, and back to an AFAICT verbatim repetition of the chorus.

The vocal section at 3:22 was not expected but was an OK fit with what proceeded it. The Joker theme started to come in afterward and was a cool way to mesh the two themes, but it was an awkward transition back to the original key at 4:21. Think this section would have worked much better in the same key as the other sections.

The super gating/panning bit at 4:21 was tasteful. It's very easy to make things like that too annoying (especially on headphones), but you hit the sweet spot. The ending was odd though. You've got a build up section like it's going to lead back into something, but it just dies. I've heard that kind of thing in music before so maybe it's just not my cup of tea.

Close call overall. The conservative nature wasn't an issue for me - while it's similar in instrumentation, I think there is more additive writing baked in to this than some of the other judges are giving you credit for. Your production is excellent, but I had a harder time getting behind the awkward flow of the bridge and the repetition of parts like the main Harley riff and the drums. I'll go ahead and hesitantly pass this. I liked the treatment for the most part, despite the issues I listed.

YES (borderline)

Edited November 30, 2013 by Palpable

[Flexstyle]

Let's see--there's obviously a lot of source here, and I can definitely see the direction you've gone with it. While I think the repetition would work just fine on a dancefloor--indeed, that seems to be what you've aimed for with the long intro--I don't think it quite works for the purposes of an OC ReMix. Basically, I'll just pile on to what the other judges have already mentioned--that lack of variation during long stretches of the song is what's holding this thing back. I personally would have liked to see some percussion more percussive changeups as the song progressed, too, as that tends to add flavor.

As it stands, it's a sweet track, with above-average production and some great ideas--I especially like the sample you grabbed (was that from the cartoon?) with Joker and Harley. Great way to prepare us for the transition between themes. However, it's just too repetitive to make it onto the front page. Personally, I think that even something like a radio edit might do the trick, since we are working with some repetitive source material in the first place.

If this does end up getting NO'd more than YES'd, I'd hope we see this one back soon!

NO (Resubmit)

[Chimpazilla]

I think Flex sums up my feelings about this track just about perfectly. Good production, fun ideas (and I happen to LOVE vocal clips and sfx from games), source usage is fine... but it's just too repetitive. A few more melodic ideas, some additional drum writing, and a little more personalization would do the trick. Still, quite a great track... I hope to hear it back here again.

NO (resubmit)

[Liontamer]

I especially like the sample you grabbed (was that from the cartoon?) with Joker and Harley.

They were both voice-acted, not samples. Joker in particular was pretty sweet, Jamaal; really nice work.

I'm also a NO for the reasons of overall repetition, but definitely wanna hear this sent in again with some tweaks to provide further variation, dynamics, and development.